So I am hoping that most Treehugger readers will already be on board with the argument that these studies do not make the case for sticking with gas. They do, however, remind us of a very important fact: all cars—electric or not—are still a resource intensive, and relatively inefficient, way of moving people around. So the real lessons of this study is that we need:

So yes, the "gas cars are cleaner than electric cars" headlines can be pretty much ignored. But let's not pretend that electric cars are squeaky clean either. Even those lucky souls who have solar panels charging their 100% electric car—you'll still do better walking when you can. Not only will you get exercise and a more pleasant city to boot, but the electricity you save will go back into the grid and help someone else live a little cleaner too. If I was an electric car maker, I'd be pushing hard to green the grid so we can make such headlines truly obsolete. But which electric car company has the time to be doing that?